Vivendi Showdown Set In Paris

PARIS -- In the executive suite of Vivendi Universal's Paris headquarters Monday, Chairman Jean-Marie Messier and his staff were making the final arrangements for this week's crucial annual meeting.

Across town, at the company's sprawling television facility, where anti-Messier graffiti line the hallways, workers are also making final preparations for the Wednesday meeting. But they are packing up leaflets and T-shirts emblazoned with "Messier Super Liar" and "Messier Go Away."

So it goes in the worlds of French culture and entertainment.

Messier, the American-loving leader of France's largest media company, which also owns Universal Orlando, is sure to take a beating at the annual meeting. Socialists, union members and cultural elitists, who fear he is turning their nation's film industry into the cinematic equivalent of McDonald's, are planning to gang up on him and ask that he be removed.

A series of angry protests began a week ago when Messier fired the popular head of the company's Canal Plus subsidiary. Canal Plus is the largest pay television network in France, and finances most of the nation's film production. Pierre Lescure, a former television anchorman and 17-year head of Canal Plus is an icon of sorts in France, where he is seen as the protector of things French.

Messier will likely weather the storm despite the anger some shareholders are likely to vent during the annual meeting. Vivendi Universal shares have dropped 35 percent this year amid concerns about Messier's leadership and strategy.

A spokesman for Messier said he was unavailable for comment.

Even his most vocal critics acknowledged Monday that their call to have Messier step down and Lescure reinstated will unlikely be answered. Sources at Vivendi say Messier continues to enjoy the support of the board.

Also helping turn his fortunes around was the national elections on Sunday. The Socialists, Messier's most outspoken critics, are out. The center right wing, where Messier stands as a well-established member, seems certain to win the runoff vote May 5.

The first round of presidential elections brought crushing results for Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin and saw far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen take second place. Le Pen will face incumbent President Jacques Chirac in the next round of elections.

In the final days of the campaign, "L'affaire Lescure" as Lescure's firing has come to be known, was central in the debate of an otherwise uneventful campaign.

But come Monday morning, all of France's attention shifted to the election and Le Pens unprecedented showing. Even at Vivendi's headquarters, employees and customers at the company's cyber cafe, the talk was more about Le Pen than Lescure.

Messier argues that Lescure's firing, and bringing in a replacement from a rival sports TV channel in France, was necessary to stem huge losses at Canal Plus.

"To an American audience it's a money-losing operation, so kill the head of it," said Luc Hermann, a journalist who works with an investigative program produced by Canal Plus. "It's the way he was killed that bothers us. He [Lescure] was the keeper of the Canal Plus spirit. It's like firing [CNN's] Ted Turner and replacing him with an unknown."

In an effort to defuse the tensions, Messier called a group of top union leaders and producers and writers to a meeting Sunday night.

Canal employees said the meeting was candid and courteous but vowed to continue their protests. "He listened to us and we listened to him, but this changes nothing with the company," said Gerard Chollet, leader of the largest trade union representing Canal Plus employees.